In an Ireland where we have a gay Taoiseach, marriage equality, adoption rights, gender recognition and laws that prevent discrimination against LGBT+ people, it might be hard to imagine what it was like to live here exactly 35 years ago. In March 1983, a judge handed a suspended sentence to five young people who brutally, and with premeditation, murdered a gay man. With his judgement, Justice Sean Gannon, changed Ireland forever, unwittingly sparking the country’s gay movement.
The man who was murdered was 30 year-old Declan Flynn. On September 9, 1982, he was walking home from his local pub through Fairview Park, which was a known cruising spot for gay men. A gang of five teenagers was waiting for him, one acting as bait; the rest hiding behind trees. When the signal was given they attacked. They knocked him to the ground, kicking him repeatedly and bashing him with branches they had fashioned into weapons. They stole Declan’s watch and left him to choke to death on his own blood. His attackers were Tony Maher (19), Robert Armstrong (18), Patrick Kavanagh (18), Colm Donovan (17), and a 14-year-old boy who could not be named for legal reasons.
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